Last year, Swiss coffee powerhouse Nespresso reported its eighth year of 30 per cent year-on-year growth, with sales totalling €1.35bn. This year, despite the tougher market, it is on course for 25 per cent growth. In a little over two decades, Nespresso has squeezed itself onto the most privileged of kitchen surfaces, airline galleys and office staffrooms around the world, and now employs a total of 4,500 people.

But there are battles ahead. The US’s love of bucket-size milky coffee has made the market there a hard coffee bean to crack and the…

Article

Article

A master who was making Tour de France bikes in the 1980s and an apprentice with a background in skateboarding – together they are ensuring that the renowned Zullo name lives on for cycling aficionados around the world.

Article

For centuries, German porcelain meant traditional designs from old-school manufacturers such as Meissen or KPM. Hering Berlin has managed to bring an old craft into the present with timeless pieces that are as wonderful to…

Article

Outsourcing has a bad name – a way of cutting labour costs by employing people in India and China (over three million US jobs will be lost to this trend by 2015). But there’s also a growing move for nations to outsource…

Article

Heineken and Carlsberg have been changing the Swiss beer market by buying up the country’s independent breweries. But in an Alpine village, a small company dedicated to artisanship and good design is standing firm.

Article

Sixty per cent of Japanese homes have a TOTO Washlet loo that can wash your bottom and even blow-dry it. The makers claim that after using one three times, nothing else will do. Having experienced their warm seats and piped…

Article

At China’s International Furniture Expo, Furniture Labo launched its Stellar Works collection. Proud to be made in Shanghai, it’s not only gaining fans abroad but also targeting discerning Chinese clients.

Article

Pelican Products was founded by a diver who wanted to keep his equipment safe and now it makes protective cases for everyone from the military to the iPhone user. It’s expanded into ingenious lighting systems – and is…